I have to admit, one reason I've slowed down in posting material here lately is because I'm questioning whether some pretty fundamental rules of D&D are really worth keeping. Specifically, all the rules about battlegrids (hex or square), tactical movement, and hence the action economy as we know it. (For reference, yes, I know there's already been some good discussion of the pros and cons here.)

Specifically, what's got me questioning myself is having discovered Old School Hack. I've looked over a fair number of RPG systems that try to "capture the spirit of old-school D&D," mostly out of morbid curiosity, so I can shake my head over them and marvel at how well they pick the worst parts of old-school D&D to copy or continue; but Old School Hack is different. It feels pretty elegant in its simplicity. While it definitely doesn't do everything I want D&D to do, it does have me nostalgic for some simplicity in some ways.

So I've been starting to muse about having combat run using "arenas" or "zones" instead of a grid. If anyone has any ideas about how such a system could work out -- and how, in such a system, a tank-character can "protect" his allies or how a mobility-specialist character can have their "speed" still be an advantage -- throw those ideas out!